A delicious tour of America’s favorite treats, cookies, and candies from the beloved author of the bestselling Cake Mix Doctor series and American Cake
IACP AWARD FINALIST • “Every recipe comes with a story as delicious as the small bite it describes. And best of all, every small bite begs to be baked.”—Dorie Greenspan, James Beard Award–winning author of Dorie’s Cookies
Each of America’s little bites—cookies, candies, wafers, brittles—tells a big story, and each speaks volumes about what was going on in America when the recipes were created. In American Cookie, the New York Times bestselling author and Cake Mix Doctor Anne Byrn takes us on a journey through America’s baking history. And just like she did in American Cake, she provides an incredibly detailed historical background alongside each recipe. Because the little bites we love are more than just baked goods—they’re representations of different times in our history.
Early colonists brought sugar cookies, Italian fig cookies, African benne wafers, and German gingerbread cookies. Each of the 100 recipes, from Katharine Hepburn Brownies and Democratic Tea Cakes to saltwater taffy and peanut brittle, comes with a lesson that’s both informative and enchanting.
“No matter how much you know about America’s favorite little sweets, you’ll learn so much more from Anne Byrn’s new book. Every recipe comes with a story as delicious as the small bite it describes. And best of all, every small bite begs to be baked.”
—Dorie Greenspan, James Beard Award-winning author of Dorie’s Cookies
“In American Bites, Anne Byrn unearths rare and prized recipes for addictive hand-held sweet treats that tell a fascinating story about our nation. In this journey-in-receipts, we trip from the Jewish bakery in Savannah known for its chocolate meringue crisps to the streets of New Orleans, where turn-of-the-century street vendors sell the yeast-risen Creole rice-fritters called calas. As in her American Cake, cooking this book isn’t just an adventure back in time; these recipes have all the sweet exactitude we’ve come to expect from “The Cake Doctor,” resulting in perfectly delicious cookies, tea cakes, and jumbles that will be the stars of any contemporary holiday—or everyday!—table.”
—Matt Lee and Ted Lee, authors of The Lee Bros. Charleston Kitchen
“Anne Byrn has not only given us a hundred reasons to bake for ourselves and others, but she has also curated a collection of histories as rich and delicious as the treats themselves.”
—Kelly Fields, James Beard Award nominee and chef-owner of Willa Jean
